Photo : Dom James Leachman | by Dom Daniel McCarthy<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Of your charity, pray for the eternal repose of<\/p>\n
Fr. James Leachman, OSB<\/strong> Monk and priest of Ealing Abbey May he rest in peace<\/p>\n Dom James passed away in the company of his brother, having been fortified by the sacraments on the previous day, as he consoled family and colleagues attending to him.<\/p>\n James Leachman was born in 1947 in Lincoln, England where he attended services at Lincoln cathedral. He studied biological sciences at Durham University and trained for ministry in the Church of England from 1969-1972 at St Stephen\u2019s House, Oxford.<\/p>\n As a minister of the Church of England, Dom James first served as curate in Battersea in Greenwich from 1972-1977. He became a monk of Nashdom Abbey<\/a>\u00a0in 1977 and remained until 1985 when he was received into the full communion of the Catholic Church and in 1986 entered the novitiate of Ealing Abbey<\/a>. After earning his doctorate in Sacred Liturgy writing on Dom Gregory Dix at the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy<\/a> in 1992, at Sant\u2019Anselmo, Rome, Dom James returned to Ealing where he later assisted in the foundation of the Benedictine Study and Arts Centre<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2002 Dom James returned to Rome where he taught Liturgy at his alma mater, becoming an associate professor and serving on the editorial board of Ecclesia Orans<\/a>, and as member of the Council of the President of the Liturgy institute. He also taught at the Pontifical Beda College<\/a> in Rome.<\/p>\n In 2007 he co-founded with Dom Daniel McCarthy the project Liturgiam aestimare: Appreciating the Liturgy<\/a>, which came to consist of three components: 1) a publishing series, 2) an ongoing, international, ecumenical conversation and 3) teaching liturgy and the Latin language at the Master\u2019s level.<\/p>\n In the same year the Preside of the PIL, Dom Ephrem Carr, and his council approved the establishment of a series of publications under the title Documenta rerum ecclesiasticarum instaurata<\/em><\/a>\u00a0as a form of continuation of the original series published by the Institutum Liturgicum<\/em> at Sant\u2019Anselmo prior to the Second Vatican Council. This series considers the prayers and liturgies of the post-conciliar liturgy and is published from St. Michael\u2019s Abbey Press<\/a>, Farnborough, Hampshire.<\/p>\n An inaugural colloquium<\/a>\u00a0was held at Sant\u2019Anselmo on 31 May 2008, which resulted in the publication of their first volume on the method of interpreting the collect prayer: Appreciating the Collect: An irenic methodology<\/em><\/a>. This was the first of fourteen international, ecumenical colloquia and the first of numerous publications to date. Human maturation in the prayers of the Easter vigil is the subject of the volume Transition in the Easter Vigil: Becoming Christians<\/a>. His commentaries and homilies on the prayers of the Mass are given in Listen to the Word<\/a><\/em>. His vision for arranging a church for liturgy is given in Come into the Light: Church Interiors for the Celebration of Liturgy<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2010 he helped to create a board and found the Institutum Liturgicum<\/a> in England and Wales, sponsored by his own Ealing Abbey<\/a>\u00a0and St. Michael Abbey<\/a>, Farnborough. The Liturgy Institute offers liturgy courses drawn from the curriculum of his alma mater, the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy, and accredited by the Catholic University Leuven<\/a> (KU Leuven) where he served as visiting professor. He maintained this teaching post even after he retired from Rome in 2015.<\/p>\n Dom James promoted the maturation of monastics and their communities and helped to found the project Generative Communities: Atchison Conversations<\/a>, sponsored by St. Benedict\u2019s Abbey<\/a>\u00a0and hosted with Mount St. Scholastica<\/a>\u00a0both of Atchison, Kansas. The international colloquium has met there each January since 2014. His article on different styles of monastic life is, \u201cDifferent Models of Monastic Liturgy and their Effect on Worshippers\u201d, Questions Liturgiques: Studies in Liturgy<\/em><\/a> 93 (2012) 51-73.<\/p>\n Upon retiring from teaching at Sant\u2019Anselmo in 2015, Dom James dedicated himself to studying Process Oriented Psychology which helped him to reach out to survivors of childhood sexual abuse by clergy. He sought to address this abuse and to bring healing in numerous ways including a day conference: Growing into Connectedness: Healing the history of child sexual abuse<\/a>, held on Sunday 21 October 2018 and ongoing conversations with survivors of clergy sexual abuse. His first article published on this subject is \u201cLiturgy and Sacramentality: First Perspectives from Process Oriented Psychology\u201d, Studia Liturgica (2017\/2) 114-133.<\/p>\n In collaboration with the Conference of Religious of England and Wales Dom James produced this video filmed on 3 October 2018 and published an article on the Theology and Practice of Safeguarding (available at this link<\/a>).<\/p>\n You may read a fuller account of his contributions written in Dom James\u2019 own words and explore his professional web-page at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dom James is remembered for his charming wit, intelligence, eagerness to engage with others, cultivation of the natural world and for baking bread for his brethren and friends.<\/p>\n You may send cards to: A video recording of the funeral can be found at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n(1947-2021)<\/p>\n
\nWho died on 29th August, 2021
\nIn the 75th year of his age,
\nThe 35th year of his monastic profession,
\nThe 31st year of his priesthood<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nHistory<\/h3>\n
Contact<\/h3>\n
\nD. Abbot & Community
\nEaling Abbey
\nCharlbury Grove
\nLondon W5 2DY
\nUK<\/p>\nWatch the Video Recording of Dom James\u2019 funeral mass<\/h3>\n